Supremely, spiritual directors/mentors/pastors are persons who have a sense of being 'established' in God. Otherwise they are too dangerous to be allowed into the soul space of others.
Pride is one of the socially acceptable sins in some corners of the evangelical culture. It's just straight-out ego gratification - how important I am; whether my name gets on the building or on the TV program or in the magazine article.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Pride can often be mistaken for self-worth in some religious contexts, fueling ego rather than true humility.
In this quote, Richard Foster critiques the phenomenon of pride within certain evangelical circles, where it is not only tolerated but also celebrated. He highlights how pride functions as a form of ego gratification, drawing attention to the desire for recognition and validation through fame and status, rather than fostering genuine humility and service to others. This underscores the inherent danger of equating personal significance with external accolades in a culture that can prioritize the self over community and spirituality.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a sermon, a pastor might invoke this quote to provoke thought on the nature of humility among church leaders.
More from Richard Foster
All quotes →Leadership is an act of submission to God. To be a leader means listening to all kinds of people and situations. Out of that listening, we are hoping to discern the mind of God as best we can. This is the price of leadership - it's an act of sacrifice. So leadership is part and parcel of the work of submission to God.
Similar quotes
Through me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me among the people lost for aye. Justice the founder of my fabric moved: To rear me was the task of power divine, Supremest wisdom, and primeval love. Before me things create were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I shall endure. All hope abandon, ye who enter here.
Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum.
Anyone who can be proved to be a seditious person is an outlaw before God and the emperor; and whoever is the first to put him to death does right and well. Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel.
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe._x000D_ _x000D_ And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;_x000D_ _x000D_ And thereby hangs a tale.
Sometimes in order to help He makes us cry_x000D_ _x000D_ Happy the eye that sheds tears for His sake_x000D_ _x000D_ Fortunate the heart that burns for His sake_x000D_ _x000D_ Laughter always follow tears_x000D_ _x000D_ Blessed are those who understand_x000D_ _x000D_ Life blossoms wherever water flows_x000D_ _x000D_ Where tears are shed divine mercy is shown
The good news is the gospel of God, about Christ, according to Scripture, for the nations, unto the obedience of faith, and for the sake of the Name.